메이지憲法에서의 國家와 宗敎

Abstract

As stated above, this study has examined the theocratic emperor system and the national Shinto system in Japan over the period of 70 years from the time around the Meiji Restoration to the Japanese defeat in the war. Generally speaking, the national Shinto system was deeply engraved with the images in the period of emperor system fascism, but historically speaking, it progressed differently and presented different modalities according to the periods of time, namely the formation period, the completion period and the fascism period. The national Shinto system was conceived by the leaders and classical scholars of the Restoration government and its foundation seemed to be established in the middle of teens of Meiji period. They tried to accomplish the unity of religion (Shinto) and politics, make Shinto a state religion, and control people with it. With the enactment of the Meiji constitutional law in 1889, the freedom of new religion was guaranteed. But due to the fact that the national Shinto system had been already established at that time, the freedom of new religions couldn't but be extremely form's shake and incomplete. Issued in 1890, the royal order of education was regarded as the scripture of national Shinto and had enormous influence upon Japanese society in the prewar period. After that, the modern Japan experienced the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War and converted into the emperor system-oriented imperialistic state and into the emperor system-oriented fascism and wartime system in 1930s, thus strengthening the national Shinto system all the more. All the subjects were forced to worship the emperor and visit to the Shinto shrine, and all the people and religions which resisted or did not comply with it were suppressed completely. With the unconditional surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945, the war for 15 years came to an end and the theocratic emperor system collapsed as well. And by GHQ, the national Shinto system was officially abolished. After that, with the enactment of Japanese constitutional law, the freedom of new religions has been practically guaranteed, and the principle of the separation of religion and politics was established by the apologies for the history in the past,The theocratic emperor system and the national Shinto system in modern Japan are not the things in the past, but the things which are still alive currently in its constitutional law. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out studies on both systems for the present and this study is meaningful in this regard. Historically, Japanese people couldn't live without the emperor and have been strongly obsessed with him. Even now there are far-right forces which claim the restoration of national Shinto. Although it is plainly impossible, there are some people who try to nationalize the Yasukuni Shrine. As presented in the issue of Yasukuni Shrine and so on, Japanese government and judicature have ignored neighboring countries' rightful demands. The theory that 'a Sinto shrine is unreligious' has not yet been overcome sufficiently in Japanese culture and Japanese people make shrine visit a part of their life. These phenomena have been stemmed from the system and ideology of national Shinto in modern Japan.